Dear MP, Please stop being a betrayer of the country

April 5, 2013, I went to Meet-the-People session at Block 46-2, Commonwealth Drive at the invitation of Dr Chia Shilu, MP of the Tangjong Pagar GRC. The appointment was set at 9:30pm. I was early and reached there at 8:45 pm.

I opened the door and saw 5 people standing in a queue right in-front of the registration desk. I squeezed myself into the door. A volunteer told me, “Please do not block the door.” Four of the five people in-front of me moved a little sideway and I managed to move two steps forward. On my left, I saw the entire room was packed with people. Soon after telling Michael, a volunteer that I was there at the invitation of Dr Chia Shilu, I told him I better leave the room and wait outside.

Two meters away from the door, I knocked on a discussion with Rosli (if I remember his name correctly). He said, “This is my 8 or 9 times seeing Dr Chia over my rental flat issue.” I asked, “What is the problem?” He replied, “A few days ago, A HDB officer went to my flat to paste a notice of eviction. My wife asked him to wait while she calls me back home to attend to him. The HDB officer told her to get out of the flat.” I just shook my head. Rosli, “If nothing is done, my family will have to sleep at the bus stop.”

Michael was kind enough to remind me the appointment with Dr Chia was set at 9:30pm and I should wait. I nodded my head and went for a drink nearby. At around 9:10pm I went in. I heard someone saying his queue number is 79. At 9:30pm sharp I met up with Dr Chia. This was his opening statement. He said, “You look the same as in your website.” (Actually, it was my personal blog.) I nodded my head. In less than 3 minutes, I left.

Please allow me to do some simple arithmetic. Assume there were 80 people who are meeting Dr Chia this evening and he took an average of 2.5 minutes (which is pretty short) to meet up with each person, he needs a total of 200 minutes to attend to all 80 people. 200 minutes equals to 3 hours and 20 minutes. I heard the Meet-the-People session begins at 7:00pm. I guessed Dr Chia would finish his session at around 10:20pm.

From a quality point of view, Rosli had to see Dr Chia for the 8th or 9th time over the same issue and yet, his family was served an eviction notice by HDB, I can only say, he is totally ineffective. Meet-the-People session is the barest minimum an MP can do to serve his constituency. Yet, I did not see five out of six MPs in Tanjong Pagar are not seen in this Meet-the-People session. The five other MPs are Lee Kuan Yew, Chan Chun Sing, Dr Lily Neo, Sam Tan Chin Siong and Indranee Thurai Rajah.

Dr Chia holds the Meet-the-People session once a week on every Friday. I understand all MP are paid S$15,000 allowance per month. There are 4 Fridays a month, Dr Chia spent in all 13 hours 20 minutes a month on Meet-the-People sessions. It works out to be S$1,125 per hour ($15,000/13 hours 20 minutes). The other five MPs do not spend any time at all serving the people at the Meet-the-People session but still pocket all $15,000 a month. In Malay, it is called, gaji buta.

Sadly, this is the hidden true fact about the Westminster Political System that Singapore inherited from the British. Every PAP MP is given an allowance of $15,000 per month by LKY or his son, Lee Hsien Loong, the PM-designated. This promise of this allowance was dished out to each PAP MP during the nomination day for standing in the General Election on a PAP ticket. In other words, all the PAP MPs of the Singapore Parliament were sort of given a sweetener of S$15,000 allowance per month to be elected as MP on the PAP ticket. Behind this promise of allowance was an expected resounding “Yes” to all the wimps and fancies of the Prime Minister ever since 1984. I chose this year because I want to exclude Goh Keng Swee and Toh Chin Chye from among you all. These two MPs were brave enough to say “No” to LKY if they found that his wish was against the public’s interest.

Summing up, I need not explain further why I chose the title of this article, “Dear MP, please stop being a betrayer of the country or 卖国贼”. If you still do not know what to do in order to stop betraying the country, please read this other article “Ending Political Tyranny in Singapore” posted at http://ericwoonct.blog.163.com/blog/static/181911362201336104641196/